The sound of footsteps striking the solid ice echoed rapidly as Elliot and I moved through this place.
Ahead of us was a massive crack in the ground, and through my senses I could feel that it stretched dozens of meters downward.
But the moment we reached the edge, the ice rebuilt and reshaped itself, forming a bridge toward the other side.
Several hours had already passed since we began searching, and so far I hadn’t sensed anything that could lead us to what we were looking for.
Of course, I memorized every place my senses touched so we wouldn’t keep moving through the same areas over and over again.
"Still haven’t found anything?" Elliot asked while we crossed the icy bridge to the other side.
"Can you stop asking that damn question already?... This is the tenth time." The annoyance in my tone was obvious. Why did this hero become so irritating sometimes?
"Alright, alright, no need to get angry. I was just asking in case."
I sighed. "In case of what exactly?... Isn’t it obvious I’ll tell you if I find something? So just stop already."
He gave me a sideways glance. "There’s always a chance you’ll stay quiet and ignore it, so I’m just asking."
"What the hell are you talking about? Why would I do that?"
He shrugged. "Who knows what kind of thoughts go through your weird head."
I stared into the abyss leading downward... it would be nice seeing him fall in there while screaming.
"Haaaa... just shut your mouth if you don’t have anything useful to say."
I shook my head as I stepped onto the other side of the crack, and several dozen meters away, a massive wall of ice rose upward.
And it was tall.
Without saying anything else, we continued forward before climbing it using someone’s abilities.
The place above was one of the highest points in this frozen field, so we could see quite far from there, much farther than my senses could reach.
Something caught the corner of my eye, drawing my attention westward where a massive figure moved between the giant ice formations.
It resembled the monsters we had encountered before, with thick white fur and four long curved legs, along with a tail dragging behind it across the ground.
But unlike them, this thing was enormous and seemed fully grown, standing nearly ten meters tall. It was the size of a large building... a greater monster.
It was several kilometers away, so it didn’t notice our presence.
Not that it would be a major problem if it did.
Back in the first days on Earth, Rank 4 monsters represented a deadly threat to us, but now... it didn’t really matter.
Yeah, fighting one of them would still be difficult, but I was certain it would end up dead eventually.
"That thing is huge." Elliot commented while staring at it as well.
"Yeah, let’s continue moving now."
With that, we resumed moving once again, climbing up and down through this place while my senses scanned a radius of one and a half kilometers around me.
"You know? You don’t seem excited about going back."
I turned my head toward Elliot when he said that, raising an eyebrow. "And why would you say that?"
"Because that’s how you look... you know, we’re only one step away from finding the place that’ll decide our fate, but you’re really taking your time searching this place without a care."
I shook my head tiredly. "You’re wrong... I’m excited to see those ruins too, and forgive me for not running around like a lunatic."
I raised my hand and tapped my finger against my head. "Unfortunately, sensing souls and terrain are two different things... and my mind needs more time to process the latter."
Elliot blinked at me. "I didn’t mea—"
His words stopped before leaving his mouth, just as both of us froze in place after sensing the same thing...
Not because we sensed something.
But because we heard a familiar sound.
That same thunderous roar from earlier.
My gaze met Elliot’s for a moment as I turned toward the source of the sound, only for the ice to block my vision.
But in the next moment, the ground beneath us moved and a pillar of ice rose upward, lifting us high enough to see into the distance.
And apparently, the sound was coming from the same place where we had seen the giant monster earlier.
"Raise us higher." I urged Elliot to lift us even further so the scene would become clearer.
And he did. The pillar of ice rose beyond every obstacle blocking our sight, revealing what was happening in the distance.
Several kilometers away, the larger monster was crouched with its back facing us, as if preparing to pounce on something the next moment.
And that something was already standing before it.
It was slightly shorter than the larger monster, but its body stretched far longer... perhaps the length of a six-story building, with dark gray skin resembling that of a lizard.
Even its body resembled a lizard.
It possessed only two long thick limbs extending from its shoulders, while its lower body stretched backward in the form of a thick tail that consumed half of its entire body.
The bones of its spine protruded through its gray skin all the way to its head, which looked almost completely fleshless.
Maybe because I was too far away, but it resembled a white skull with a long mouth capable of swallowing several people at once.
It advanced while its heavy limbs crushed the ice beneath it effortlessly, its mouth opening as its thin tongue dangled outward alongside thick saliva.
It stared at the larger monster with pure hunger, yet the latter didn’t move from its place. Instead, it cautiously stepped backward without fleeing or attacking.
As the other monster approached closer, the larger one bared its teeth while a threatening growl escaped between them.
But the other creature didn’t care. Instead, it simply advanced further, causing the larger monster to finally move.
Its four limbs tightened against the ice, leaving massive cracks large enough for me to see clearly even from here. But before it could leap toward its opponent, the other monster opened its mouth wide.
For a moment, I thought it was about to release that same deafening roar.
But instead, I heard nothing... literally nothing.
I narrowed my eyes and focused on the larger monster that had been prepared to attack only moments ago, only to see it frozen in place now.
Its body stiffened completely, as though its joints had stopped functioning in that moment and refused to obey it.
Only a faint tremor passed through its jaw.
But it didn’t last forever. It was only a few moments before its limbs began moving again.
But by then, it was already too late.
The other monster had already reached it, spreading its only two limbs wide as it raised itself above the frozen prey beneath it, its mouth opening wider than ever before and revealing its terrifying arsenal of sharp teeth.
It only took a fraction of a second for it to lower its head and bite into the larger monster’s neck.
I was too far away for it to be possible to hear the sound from here, but I could feel it.
Just like a knife cutting through butter, its jaws tore through the creature’s neck and completely severed its head from its body.
Blood splattered everywhere, forming small fountains erupting from where its neck had once connected to its body.
Holding its prey’s head in its mouth, the monster watched the corpse lose strength and collapse onto the ice while blood formed a massive pool beneath it.
Without wasting any time, it slightly shook its head, tearing off the first chunk of its prey’s flesh and swallowing it, letting the severed head fall to the ground below.
After swallowing the first bite, it paused for a moment as though it had just noticed something.
It remained still briefly before turning its head toward us and staring directly at us.
Yeah, I wasn’t mistaken. That thing was staring directly at us... for some reason, I almost laughed at that.
But in the next moment, I felt Elliot’s hand grab my shoulder and yank me backward, causing us to fall from dozens of meters in the air.
But before we reached the ground the gravity weakened and our movement became slower until we landed gently on the ice
"That thing was staring directly at us, wasn’t it?"
I stepped away from him, causing his hand to slip off my shoulder. "Unfortunately, it seems it was... and it’s probably wondering right now whether it’s worth the trouble to get itself a light snack or not."
He stared at me with obvious irritation on his face. "Stop talking about it like you’re not included. You know what that monster was."
I shrugged helplessly.
"Yeah, a Rank 5 monster... evil."